


Heart-tied

by flecksofpoppy



Series: Poppy's Adventures in Night Ficcing [3]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Era, Gen, M/M, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Tumblr Memes, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2015-07-17
Packaged: 2018-04-09 20:24:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4362944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flecksofpoppy/pseuds/flecksofpoppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jinae is famous for strange turns of phrase.</p><p>(Send me a ship and I'll write a ficlet tumblr meme: "jeanmarco - things you said that i wasn’t meant to hear")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart-tied

He says phrases you don’t understand: tongue-tied, flintlocked, soft-hearted. Words that go together that logically don’t make sense.

Jinae is famous for strange turns of phrase, a legacy of storytellers all handed down from a time that most of humanity can’t remember. It’s widely known as a bumpkin farming town, but for those who pay attention—like your mother—there are rumors about banned texts coming from that place.

You hear Armin whisper it to Eren one late night, too—not the phrases Marco does, but the rumors. He confesses that half his grandfather’s illicit library came from a small town south of Wall Rose.

Eren just grumbles in his sleep, and Armin sighs. You can’t close your eyes long enough to find dreams, and you listen to Marco—coincidentally, your bunk mate—breathe for an hour after he’s fallen asleep. It's your second night in the barracks.

In the next two years, you learn that "soft-hearted" means putting baby birds back into a nest at the cost of coming in last during a run; you learn that flintlocked means being backed into a corner and forced to fight hand-to-hand against over zealous cadets; you learn that being tongue-tied is how Marco looks at you.

You learn that phrases can sometimes be literal, and you make up your own: heart-tied. It’s fitting, and for you, Marco Bodt’s heart is as foreign and mysterious as a forgotten book from yesteryear, but a story worth telling, if only to yourself.


End file.
